Smarter Oral Care

Saliva plays an important role in our daily lives. Saliva helps us swallow, talk, taste and protect our mouth and teeth. When there is a decrease in the amount of saliva in our mouth it can lead to dry mouth fatigue or also known as xerostomia.

For people without teeth, denture retention, comfort and ability to chew and speak may become difficult when less saliva is present.

Sometimes you may complain of dry mouth but in fact, you have abundant of saliva. Having dry mouth at night, dry mouth in the morning or dry mouth while sleeping may occur as the saliva flow is naturally reduced at night or it can also be due to sleeping with your mouth open or breathing through your mouth. True or chronic dry mouth causes infection to the salivary glands, dry mouth and throat as well as tooth decay.

Dry mouth causes

Although the exact cause for dry mouth may be difficult to identify, the most common factors are the following:

Dry mouth remedies

Treating dry mouth depends on the condition that is causing it. Generally, dry mouth treatment consists of managing the medical condition causing the dry mouth, increasing saliva flow and preventing tooth decay. The following are steps on how to manage dry mouth:

Maintain a good oral hygiene by tooth-brushing and flossing twice a day and use a fluoridated toothpaste or dry mouth toothpaste like Orajel® and Biotene®. Use an alcohol-free mouthwash or a mouthwash for dry mouth.

Have regular dental checkups to ensure your mouth stays healthy.

Dry mouth medications, such as cholinergic agents pilocarpine and bethanecol, may be prescribed by your doctor or dentist when your healthcare permits and if the dry mouth is severe.

If you have true dry mouth your dentist would make frequent recalls to assess the tooth decay status. Aggressive tooth decay prevention efforts will be recommended because the presence of dry mouth puts you in a high-risk category for tooth decay. The following tooth decay-prevention efforts are essential to control tooth decay associated with dry mouth:

Regular and thorough tooth brushing with both fluoride dentifrices and either high-dosage 2% sodium or 1.1% stannous home fluoride gel

Removal of plaque between teeth through flossing and/or interproximal brushing

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